Social Investment

Since its inception Karoon has had a sustainable approach to strategic planning to achieve our corporate goals in all aspects of our business. This includes social responsibility and investment where our careful and considered approach has enabled us to contribute to the local communities where we operate alongside our work program spending.

Karoon understands that a successful project should contribute to an improved quality of life for the people, families, authorities, and other stakeholders who are involved in the development of our operations.

Karoon has demonstrated our commitment to communities and stakeholders by promoting local participation in both social investment activities and the implementation of our work programs. All of our social investment activities are specially developed to provide optimum benefits for those involved.

Supporting Local Economies: Mutumbi Project

When Karoon arrived in Tumbes, the company identified a lack of work opportunities for the women. Once the Company became more familiar with the region and its culture, Karoon noticed that these women showed great talent when producing handmade jewellery and other local artisanal products however, they lacked basic skills to turn this opportunity into a small business.

Based on these findings Karoon developed a program to create a small artisanal business thus empowering those communities to generate a sustainable income.

The program began in March 2012 with training in business administration, design techniques, marketing and sales. The women have learned greatly from the experience and established a solid brand called Mutumbi. Today the business provides employment for nine women, both workers and managers, in this successful project.

Karoon continues to mentor and assist Mutumbi, while aiming to achieve a self-sustainable business for the local women

Supporting Education: Tumpis Project

In 2013 Karoon became aware that many children from low income families in the province of Tumbes were being discouraged from finishing their schooling in favour of seeking low paid employment in the local fishing industry. To encourage these students to complete their studies and continue to tertiary level Karoon developed an educational program called Tumpis. The program is open to students from low income families who have performed well in their secondary studies, and offers them the opportunity to attend university when they may not otherwise have the financial resources to do so.

Phase 1 of the Project began in 2013 with nine students. Karoon provided financial support for each student to assist with living expenses, learning tools and transport whilst attending the University of Tumbes. Today the program, currently in phase 2, has been improved to include tutoring and workshops to improve study techniques. Importantly the program encourages parental involvement in the students’ learning process to motivate and encourage academic performance.

Supporting Healthcare: Natural Medicine Project

The Peruvian Amazon hosts one of the largest collections of flora in the world. Due to the sheer size and geographic nature of the area, the benefits to local inhabitants of the medicinal values of its flora are not well known or understood. Karoon, in a joint effort with the Peruvian Amazon Research Institute (IIAP, Instituto de Investigación de la Amazonía Peruana), developed a Project entitled “Training for Amazon communities with emphasis on medicinal plants, traditional medicine and conservation of the Amazon’s natural resources”.

The aim of the project was to train health workers in each community to make sustainable use of the medicinal plants in the forest in Pastaza, Loreto. This had many benefits including improving access to health care for communities, employment and training for health care workers and careful conservation and increased awareness of local natural resources.

Many plant species located in the area of Karoon’s previously held Block 144 have medicinal properties that can be used to treat illnesses such as, for example, diabetes, malaria, cholesterol, anaemia, ulcers and flu. Karoon, together with the Peruvian Amazon Research Institute (IIAP), developed a program to train local health practitioners in the treatment of these common diseases through natural medicine. Overall at least 12 nurses from 12 Loreto communities successfully completed the program.

In September 2015, Karoon and IIAP visited these communities to assess the success of the program. The results were extremely positive with most of the trained workers treating common diseases with medicinal local plants.

Supporting Local Communities: Land Titling Project

A large proportion of the communities of the province of Dátem del Marañon do not have legal documents to certify the ownership of the lands where they reside. This has left them exposed and vulnerable to potential land and boundary conflicts. In 2010, Karoon, together with other key institutions, developed the Land Titling Project for native communities. The project was aimed at supporting seven native communities through the process of obtaining land titles in the province of Dátem del Marañon.

After five years, the titles were granted on 22 May 2015, improving the territorial and legal conditions for these seven communities. The titles represent a major step forward towards the formalisation of the Country’s territory.

Education Sponsorship

University Events, Brazil

Karoon sponsored two events in different Brazilian universities during 2016, namely: (Precisa atualizar)

Petro-Sul, the largest petroleum and gas event in the south of Brazil, bringing together approximately 300 participants. The event was organized by the Federal University of Pelotas in Rio Grande do Sul and offered technical visits, lectures and courses by renowned professionals who shared insights, advances and the latest news and technological trends from the industry.

The “I SPE-UDESC Petroleum Workshop”, organized by the State University of Santa Catarina (UDESC) to discuss technological, institutional and research trends related to engineering in the Oil and Gas industry. Karoon, in partnership with Haliburton, offered a workshop by André Mendonça, a specialist in drilling fluids.

Karoon Geoscience Scholarship, Australia:

In 2016 Karoon began sponsoring the Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia (PESA) Victoria Tasmania scholarship. The scholarship is open to Honours & Masters candidates studying a geoscience, energy-related academic program in Victoria or Tasmania.

The scholarship is awarded to a student working on a project relevant to the geoscience, energy-related industry. Some examples include sedimentology, basin analysis, structural geology, geophysics, geochemistry, paleontology and petroleum geology.

The award is to assist students with university fees, subsistence, or project costs such as data acquisition and processing or travel and accommodation for field work or conferences.